We Are Cinema is a month-long exhibit and screening series celebrating 50 years of the Film-Makers’ Co-op in NYC. It was in January of 1962 that filmmaker Jonas Mekas called an urgent meeting of about 20 avant-garde/independent filmmakers including Stan Vanderbeek, Rudy Burckhardt, Jack Smith, Ken Jacobs, and Gregory Markopoulos to discuss taking the means of exhibition and distribution into their own hands. Within months the Film-Makers’ Co-op was born. Under the stewardship of filmmaker MM Serra since 1991, the organization is now the oldest and largest artist-run cooperative in the world and membership continues to be open to anyone with a film or video work.

We Are Cinema features paintings, drawings, prints, light boxes, and other artworks from the group’s earliest to most recent members. Additionally, rare early documents, posters, catalogues, archival materials and historical sound recordings will also be on exhibit.

Events start on Saturday February 11, at 5PM – just prior to the official exhibition opening – with the first screening of restored, fresh-from-the-lab 16mm prints of rare short works by legendary filmmaker/artist Jack Smith (Respectable Creatures, Song for Rent, Hot Air Specialists, Overstimulated, Scotch Tape, and Yellow Sequence), all new editions to the Co-op’s distribution. Original founding director Jonas Mekas and current director MM Serra will introduce the works. The four-part screening series continues with unique programs by Ken Jacobs (2/18), Jonas Mekas (2/25), and a group show of recent additions to the Co-op’s collection (3/4). Seating is limited. Please RSVP to rsvp@microscopegallery.com.

The Film-Makers’ Co-op continues to operate as a vibrant archive and distributor, housing more than 5,000 films and videos by over 900 artists. It is now located at 475 Park Ave South in Manhattan. To schedule a press screening, or for further information about the Co-op and film rentals please contact the Co-op at filmmakerscoop@gmail.com or visit their website www.film-makerscoop.com

RELATED EVENTS

SATURDAY 2/11

JACK SMITH, 5PM: Screening “Fresh-from-the-Lab” new prints of rare short films by Jack Smith new to distribution from the Co-op, introduced by MM Serra and Jonas Mekas. Admission $10, RSVP to rsvp@microscopegallery.com. MORE INFO HERE
With gratitude to the Barbara Gladstone Gallery and Jerry Tartaglia for the preservation and restoration of Jack Smith’s films.

7-9PM: We are Cinema opening reception, open to the public

SATURDAY 2/18

KEN JACOBS, 7PM: Ken Jacobs in person, 16mm prints from the Co-op of Blonde Cobra (1959-1963) and The Whirled (1956 to 1963), four shorts of Jack Smith performing; and America At War, The Home Front: Film Opening – 3D (2011). Admission $6MORE INFO HERE

SATURDAY 2/25

JONAS MEKAS, 7PM: Jonas Mekas in person to present his 1997 Birth of a Nation, which has screened previously only once. Admission $6MORE INFO HERE